----- Original Message -----
From: "Talal Itani" <titani@verizon.net>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 10:02 AM
Subject: Pulling Flash Memory
> Hello,
>
> I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the memory
> card, without clicking: safely remove hardware? How do I guarantee that
> XP finished accessing the card?
>
> Thanks
....
> I think there are three ways:
>
> 1- Safely remove hardware
> 2- Eject
> 3- Set: Optimize for quick removal
I have never trusted or used 3. I prefer to see something actually indicate
that the card can be removed.
Safely remove hardware can be used, but should only be used when you are
actually going to unplug the USB connection. The 'safely remove hardware'
option is for removing the card reader -- it deactivates the reader and pops
up a message. When you get the 'safe to remove hardware message', it is
safe to unplug the card reader from the USB port and it is equally safe to
just unplug the card from the USB reader. You will run into a problem,
though, if you don't unplug the card reader from the USB port because no
more cards can be seen until the reader has been unplugged and replugged in.
On systems with built-in card readers, using 'safely remove hardware'
disables all the card reader slots until you reboot -- a real pain.
Eject is for removing the card from the reader, but leaves the reader active
so that another card is recognized when it is plugged into the reader. But
there is no 'safe to remove card' message, so how do you know when it is
safe to remove the card? There is no 'one size fits all' solution. On most
systems, each card slot may show up as a separate drive letter. Each of
these drives has a 'label'. With no card in the slot, it might say
'removable drive', or might say something like 'CF Reader' or 'SD Reader'.
With a card inserted, it might display the actual lable of the card, which
you can change when you reformat the card. So, for example, if you have a
card inserted that says 8 MEG CF (H
in My Computer, and you do the Eject
option, it will probably change to 'Removable Disk (H)' when it is safe to
remove the card. Some USB multicard readers show up in My Computer as only
one drive letters and others may show up as four drive letters. You have to
play with your system and learn how it works, and that knowledge may or may
not apply to the next computer with the same OS.
-Paul Randall
ERoi.1148$2c7.373@trnddc06...
